Vegan Recipes and Plant Based Cooking

I don't microwave anything. The sole exception being Chinese takeout. Which I try not to indulge in very often. A while back I read some things on the internet about how bad microwaving is for food and nutrients. And while those statements are dubious at best. There's no conclusive evidence regarding microwave heating diminishing the vitamin and minerals in food. What I learned from it is that food tastes better no reheated in that way. My family think I'm crazy eating all my leftovers cold from the fridge. And in turn, I think they're crazy zapping everything into taste oblivion. There's a down side. I tend to enjoy my food way too much. When I was younger there was no such thing as the microwave. If you wanted to reheat your leftovers you had to turn on the oven and wait. It wasn't until my early teens that the microwave oven became popular and affordable to the average person. When it did most of America fell in love with the convenience. I think co...

I'm a fan of Thomas' Bagels. I don't think that they are actually bagels or should legally be allowed to be called bagels. They are not bagels. This much is clear. They are however, pretty tasty rolls. They also feature a lot of calories. So in my effort to keep my caloric consumption low I decided to toast one and remove the innards. I was left with a crispy shell of bread on which to enjoy my sandwich and a handful of toasty bread chunks to save for later. I used them as croutons on a salad. It all worked out very nicely. Rather than waste your time with bagel thins or lite bread I recommend modifying ordinary bread products. Bagel thins are just awful. They are not good at all. However hollowing out a toasted packaged bagel yields similar calorie savings with a much better taste. And you get some nice croutons for your efforts. The problem with lite bread is that it's just smaller bread. Stick with normal bread and make a less dense sandwich or eat less sid...

Around the end of the summer a new Smash Burger opened nearby. I was able to try it not longer after. I was excited because their menu offered a spicy black bean burger. I love black beans. They are far and away my favorite bean. I eat them all the time. I even make my own spicy black bean burgers when the spirit moves me. The smash burger version sounded very promising. Adorned with jalapenos and pepper jack cheese among other acourtrements. The burger itself was not bad, but not very impressive either. It was better than your average restaurant veggie patty, but only by a bit. It was pretty bland. Basically just black beans and some binding agent. It could have used some spices or garlic or both. My guess is that the toppings and bun were supposed to take care of that. Which for the most part they did. The spicy jalapenos and the melty cheese and the crunchy onions made it a pretty good sandwich in the end. But even so, you still taste the burger inside of all that pop and sizzle...